You might know by now that I believe retirement planning to be more than crunching the numbers. If you’re doing true planning for your “golden years”, then you need to consider things like your mental and physical health. You also need to consider your comfort and your access to various needs as you age.
This is why I encourage my clients to think about their social lives leading up to and during retirement. It’s important to ask yourself:
- What activities will help me move my body on a regular basis?
- Walking club, social dancing, swimming at the Y, gardening, golf, hiking, travel?
- Where will I find opportunities to work on my mental health and sharpness?
- Volunteering, travel, part-time work, teaching/mentoring, book club, game night, getaways with friends?
- Once I’ve chosen my activities, will I have access to the things I need to support my mental and physical health?
- Internet access, mobility access, transportation, safety, access to medical care, tools for language barriers, guides?
- Which are things that I’ll do once in a while, and which are things that will be a new part of my daily life?
- Who will I do these things with and how will I communicate to other loved ones where I’ll be in the event of an emergency?
Because I’m always thinking about retirement, I have made a commitment to write about places I visit, to assess if these are places where retirees in particular would fare well. I consider things like mobility access, ease of navigation to your destination, whether it’s LGBTQ friendly, the cost and the “engagement” factors.
My latest visit was to Quintana Roo and Yucatan Mexico! Check out my assessment below, starting with our resort.
You’ll also find links to my associated Google Reviews of various establishments.
Let's start: I went with my husband to a resort just south of Cancun, called Iberostar at Playa Paraiso. We found this to be an excellent location because it wasn’t right in the hustle and bustle of Cancun, but it was still close to the airport and driving distance from some major attractions, which I’ll detail below.
Here a few of the notable items that made my stay pleasant and would also be important for retirees:
- They were cognizant of food allergies, though you would still need to use caution at the buffets.
- Everything was accessible. And this particular location offered shuttles to get you around the resort because it was so big!
- They had rooms on the ground floor with no steps at all and walk in showers.
- They resort was LGBTQ-friendly
- There were various “levels” in terms of costs and amenities
- Lots of attractions nearby, and it was safe to move around the area so long as you stayed on major roads.
- All staff at the resort spoke English, but lots of people outside of the resort also spoke English since it’s a high tourist area.
- Access to internet (sometimes needed for medical care) was reliable. We also had no problem with electricity or overall infrastructure.
- They had a beautiful and relaxing spa!
- We were able to rent a car from one of the major providers with no problem.
Everything is in pesos, but almost every place accepted major credit cards that will exchange the currency for you for a transaction fee. This was better than trying to figure out the exchange rate and risk getting scammed.
To see my full review of Iberostar Paraiso Del Mar, find it HERE!
Next, we visited Tulum! This one was my favorite tourist attraction. If you're into archeology and history, this place is glorious. There are a lot of spiritual elements within these ruins. We chose to hire a guide and I'm really glad we did. He provided us with a lot of education and helped us navigate the site.
The following day, we drove nearly 3 hours to visit Chichen Itza. This one was an experience of a lifetime. A city built by the Mayan people starting as early as 600 AD, and now considered one of the 7 World Wonders. For those who like all the history, you'll find the Wiki Page here. We used a tour guide for this one too, and so happy we did! She explained to us how the Mayan people still exist today and they have assimilated into the modern population. Many families have retained some of the Mayan language. See my review and some photos HERE.
We had a long drive to get to Chichen Itza from our resort. We had no problem renting a car from a well-known rental service that we also have in the States. This was preferred. Ubers are less available and less reliable than renting a car here. Also, the locals told us to avoid taxis at all costs, because they overcharge and might try to scam you. Better to use a car service that was vetted in advance or a shuttle service provided by your resort.
Driving on the main roads and highways proved to be no problem at all. We were just told to stay on those main roads for safety. We had no problem with getting gas or using our GPS from our phones. We did have to figure out the toll system on the highways. In this case, we learned that US dollars are not accepted as they are at the resort or for tipping. Have pesos ready, or have a credit card that you can use for international purchases. I had no problem using a Mastercard. Don't use a bank debit card for security reasons. (That's a general rule, put purchases on a credit card, where you can contest fraudulent activity without having a freeze on your cash accounts.)
On the way back from Chichen Itza, we stopped in a town called Valladolid. What a gorgeous little town with the friendliest people. It was clean and it felt safe and we got to have lunch right next to a beautiful cenote. In fact, the restaurant where we ate was called Cenote Zací because you're sitting right at the edge of that cenote. A cenote is basically an underground lake or pool of fresh water that has opened up. You'll find these all over the place in this region of Mexico. We didn't go in, but in many places, you can. Learn more about this cenote HERE. Finding this place was pretty easy following the GPS and they have a dedicated parking lot with someone directing traffic during the busy hours. The food was excellent and they offer a big clean bathroom! For a review of the restaurant, look HERE.
And lastly, we ate at an authentic Mexican seafood restaurant that was recommended to us by a local who worked as a Chef at our resort. Called La Barracuda Seafood, you can read about it HERE.
Keep an eye out to for travel tips in my next blog post! If you are going on adventures that others should hear about, please tell us!